Chapter 9: Gold Ingots (5)
Xue Xian glanced at his palm out of the corner of his eye and measured the Baldy’s body. The monk’s robes were wide, which made Xuan Min seem tall and slender. From the outline of his straight back, Xue Xian could tell that his skinniness wasn’t similar to the people who ate nutritionless food while they were growing up but should still possess some strength. In any case, it was still a far cry from “strong”.
And so, Xue Xian lifted his chin in disbelief. “You can catch me with one hand? Who are you fooling?”
Xuan Min’s expression did not shift, his hand still extended.
“Fine, you’ll be responsible for the damage,” said Xue Xian aloofly. Using both his hands, he leaped from the wall.
However, the instant he fell, he transformed from being a skinny human back into a paper man. To match the width of Xuan Min’s palm, he purposely reduced the size of the paper by a few times, making it the size of a palm. Like a leaf falling from a branch, he lay in Xuan Min’s palm…
Spread-eagle style.
Xuan Min, “…”
Accustomed to the lively appearance of this vile spawn, it was a shock to see an image depicting “regret in death” again. Even if it was shrunk down, it still stung the eyes when one saw it.
Xuan Min shifted his gaze away wordlessly. Out of sight, out of mind was his original intention. He placed the vile spawn back into the pocket by his waist as he had done before. But he grew some humanity this time and allowed the vile spawn to poke his head out for an occasional breather instead of letting him sink to the bottom.
Who knew that the vile spawn was dissatisfied.
“Excuse me, change the place.” The tone of the “excuse me” that came out of Xue Xian’s mouth did not sound polite at all.
Xuan Min did not expect that within the time span of a few sentences, the vile spawn had already forgotten that he was the one being caught and vaguely felt as if he was going to overturn the sky.
Was there ever a prisoner who would boldly request for a higher level bunk?
“Where to?” Xuan Min lowered his gaze.
The paper man was naturally boneless anyway so he easily bent over backwards to show his face while rolling his eyes at Xuan Min, demanding, “I want to climb onto the shoulder!”
Xuan Min, “…”
The paper man Xue still complained reasonably, “The view from this pain-in-the-ass spot is too low. I can’t see anything from here. I want to climb onto the shoulder!”
Xuan Min, “…”
Why don’t you climb up to heaven?
“So now you’re not afraid of falling,” said Xuan Min tonelessly.
Xue Xian talked back without a hint of hesitation. “Do you slouch your shoulders? Do you skip when you walk? If you don’t do either of these, how would I fall?”
The vile spawn always talked as if he made perfect sense and Xuan Min could not win a fight against him. He only shook his head and said in defeat, “Climb on.”
After he finished speaking, he ignored Xue Xian and stepped forward.
Xue Xian lay waiting at the mouth of the pocket but noticed that Xuan Min was not going to lend a helping hand. He opened his mouth indignantly. “Where’s your hand?”
Xuan Min replied coldly, “Climb on your own.”
Xue Xian, “…”
For a daye like Xue Xian, it was humiliating to climb all over the place which he would not do even if he was to be beaten to death. But he could reluctantly accept climbing using his arms’ strength, just like a monkey did. And so, he raised his head and took into account the Baldy’s height. He then condescended, stretching two of his dragon claws out to hook onto the Baldy’s monk robes.
Xuan Min’s monk robes had a strange texture. Neither was it like raw hemp, nor cooked hemp. It wasn’t finely made and yet it was slightly soft. It was steeped until it turned white as snow as if no dust or dirt could stain it. In short, it wasn’t something any ordinary monk would wear.
And…it had a smell he couldn’t quite place.
Like a pine forest freshly covered with snow.
The weight of the paperman was truly light. In two to three movements, Xue Xian had climbed directly from Xuan Min’s waist area up to his collar.
Originally, he would have reached the shoulder if he had continued along the collar and flipped up. It could even be counted as a shortcut. But Xue Xian didn’t want to. He lay at Xuan Min’s collar, looked at both shoulders, and raised his head.
He could see Xuan Min’s chin from his strange point of view which would not have been visible if he had continued climbing.
Xue Xian took a short break and then swung up violently, clambering up his chin and slapping his way up from the bridge of his nose. Borrowing strength from Xuan Min’s eyelashes, he dropped down on his shoulder from the side, enacting in earnest what the idiom “onto the nose and then face” meant.
Xuan Min, “…”
To have such a fearless temperament, it most definitely could not have been any small demonic spirit. But the energy on Xue Xian’s original body was still weak and hence Xuan Min had not been able to determine the origin of this vile spawn.
Speaking of original bodies…
Xuan Min threw a glance at the paper man, who was now sitting on his shoulder, and asked in a deep voice, “You said to that wandering ghost scholar that your life wasn’t over.”
Xue Xian adjusted his posture and after choosing a comfortable position, he sat lazily and said, “That’s right. That’s why it isn’t right for you to catch me.”
Xuan Min didn’t reply to his sentence, but instead asked again, “Where is your original body then?”
There were always wooden sticks in the world who were excellent with words, who would purposely pick your sore spots to jab at, mentioning the pot that doesn’t boil.
Jiang Shining was such a wooden stick and so was the Baldy.
Where was his original body?
Even Xue Xian himself didn’t know.
Recalling that day on the beach of Huameng County in Guangdong Province, after he was stripped of his bones, the rain poured heavily and the waves crashed. The surge of waves swept him into the sea and he had lost consciousness from the agony. When he finally regained a sliver of consciousness, he found that his spirit had separated from his body.
Without the support of his spirit, such a huge body would not be able to maintain its original appearance. Hence, as it once was, it had shrunk into a golden orb.
He planned to collect the golden orb first and then return to his original body after his spirit had recovered. Who would have thought that the Heavens would decide to play a trick on him? When his consciousness was still hazy, the golden orb had been swept towards the shore by a huge wave. Through the seawater, he could see that the golden orb was taken away by a man in fisherman clothes.
When he had fully regained consciousness and wanted to give chase, that person had already disappeared without a trace.
Xue Xian could feel anger simmering just by thinking about it. So he said rudely, “Aren’t I looking for it now?!”
Xuan Min glanced at him again. Even though he had lost his original body, this vile spawn seemed quite capable.
It was not that Xue Xian did not take it seriously but compared to taking revenge on the one who had stripped him of his bones, the trouble with his original body was truly much smaller. The reason he could not find it now was because his spirit had been badly damaged, thus severing the connection between him and his original body. After his full recovery, he would be able to sense the location of his original body. By then, it would not take much effort to find it.
However, not looking for it was one thing and it showing up on its own was another.
Xue Xian thought of the ringing he heard previously and couldn’t help but mutter to himself, “The positioning of this mansion is a little stra—”
As he was saying this, Xuan Min had already brought him calmly through the halls and rooms, passing through two narrow doors unscathed. He walked past a corridor and was about to open another narrow door.
At that moment, just before the syllable “-nge” could leave Xue Xian’s lips, he instantly changed the topic. “Wait! Why does this place look familiar?”
More than familiar…
This house with its limestone floor and flowers carved into the wooden board above the door and the old tree that stretched past the wall with vines creeping on it…Wasn’t this the place that Xue Xian found himself in when he opened his eyes?!
Would someone care to explain why the Baldy turned here and there just to lead Xue Xian right back to where he was?!
However, Xuan Min shook his head and said, “That place was an illusion. This place is real.”
Xue Xian glanced at him and thought, Fine, since the Baldy is an expert in the Eight Gates of Defense, there should not be a huge error in his calculation. If he says it’s real, then real it is…
“What’s the point in figuring out the real one?” Xue Xian watched as the Baldy stepped over the threshold and walked into a quiet and empty room.
Xuan Min said, “This is the Gate of Life. Exit from here and the array will be broken.”
Xue Xian was just about to speak when he heard a faint voice coming from the room which should have been empty.
Xuan Min halted in his step midway and spun silently on his toes to hide behind a pillar in the corridor with the paper man still on his shoulder.
Why would someone be here?
Xue Xian climbed to stand on Xuan Min’s shoulder and poke his head out from behind the pillar. The good thing was that the paper was so unnoticeable that it was very difficult to attract attention.
The faint voice in the room gradually became clearer and familiar. When the door to the room finally opened with a squeak, the person from inside the room awkwardly raised a leg to step over the threshold. Only then did Xue Xian realise—it was the blockhead Liu Chong’s voice.
Could it be that even without searching, they had found the rest of the people who were trapped? Who was he talking to? Jiang Shining?
But Xue Xian was no fool and noticed that something was wrong instantly.
The heavy robes that Liu Chong wore were different from the ones before. The one he had on before was a grey-blue robe, but this one was a deep ochre colour with dark red lining on its sleeves, looking like a piece of clothing for festive occasions.
Just as that thought formed, Liu Chong turned back to support the person behind the door.
He was clumsy and so the action of supporting someone was done with twelve parts of strength as well as twelve parts of sincerity.
Hobbling after him with her hand in his was an old lady with her hair pulled back into a bun. The old lady’s hair was thin and white. Her bun was a soft and small ball resting at the back of her head. She looked haggard; her eyes drooped, her face was full of deep wrinkles, and her lips were a little purplish. Clearly, she was sick.
She rested her hand on Liu Chong’s wrist, clinging tightly onto Liu Chong like old roots to soil. In her other hand was an ashy walking stick made of wood. Even so, she crossed the threshold with some difficulty.
The legs of old people were sluggish. The threshold was clearly too high for her.
The old lady finally stood steady outside the door with both her hands on the walking stick. She smiled at Liu Chong and murmured, “Chong-er is capable. Go inside and bring me a wooden stool.”
Liu Chong nodded and was about to enter the room when he heard the old lady add, “Oh, the lanterns and ingots as well.”
Blockheads could only focus on one task at a time. The old lady had given him three instructions so this was too complicated for the blockhead Liu Chong. He stood with one foot in the door and one foot out, gazing dazedly at the old lady. He spoke, struggling with each word, “Wooden stool…ingots?”
The old lady exhaled silently and smiled. “Mn, Chong-er is so smart”.
Liu Chong returned the smile with a silly one and hurried back into the room. After a while, he walked out with a wooden stool in one hand and a large cloth bag in the other. With both of his hands occupied, the blockhead seemed as if he did not know how to take a step. After a moment of hesitation at the threshold, he stepped across with difficulty and staggered a little before finally managing to pass the wooden stool and the cloth bag to the old lady.
He probably wanted to steady the wooden stool and then open the cloth bag, but, because of his clumsy actions, the wooden stool almost toppled and the loose knot on the bag was pulled into a dead knot. Nobody knew if he was here to help or to cause trouble.
However, the old lady didn’t seem to mind and remained smiling at Liu Chong. She said, “And fetch two lanterns from the room.”
Liu Chong probably thought he had been praised and became even more enthusiastic. He turned back and went into the room to search and emerged with two red lanterns a while later.
“It’s a small year. These white lanterns should be taken down.” The old lady told Liu Chong to change the white lanterns beside the door to the festive red ones and sat back down onto the wooden stool, squinting at the dead knot on the cloth bag.
It took a long time to untie it.
As the cloth bag unravelled, the pile of paper ingots were spread out onto the floor.
The old lady carefully took a match from the cloth bag, lit it with the flame borrowed from the white lantern, and threw it into the pile of paper ingots.
Warm yellow flames leaped up instantly, the pile of paper ingots crumpling as if they had been sucked dry. One of the ingots close to the edge was not licked by the flames and was blown towards the pillar instead. Xuan Min silently flicked his hand and the paper ingot landed onto his palm.
Xuan Min flipped the paper ingot over and, as expected, there were a few words written on its bottom. Judging by the disjointed handwriting, it obviously belonged to the blockhead Liu Chong.
Stretching his head out and squinting his eyes to look it over, Xue Xian recognised the words as someone’s name—Liu Xian.
He immediately recalled the ingots with the illegible handwriting in Liu Chong’s room and thought, Could those words be Liu Xian?
It couldn’t be once one thought about it carefully. If Liu Chong could write the two words Liu Xian so clearly on this ingot, then why would it be scrawled so badly at another time? Looking back at that smudge of ink, there were definitely more than two words.
Xuan Min finished looking at the words on the bottom of ingot and let go. The paper ingot was blown back and managed to catch the last lick of fire, burning away completely.
The old lady stoked the fire with the cane and murmured, “My bones aren’t too well this year. I can’t bend my waist anymore. The paper ingots are fewer than last year’s. I hope you don’t mind.”
Liu Chong sat on the threshold, listening quietly. Just after two sentences, he ran back into the room and brought out a small stack of yellow paper. He buried his head between his knees and started folding and said, “I…I know how to. I’ll do it.”
The old lady turned to look at him. Her face was illuminated by the flames, her eyes warm yet pained.
Liu Chong was clumsy at other things but he was very familiar with folding ingots. He had clearly been helping. He held a finished one in his palm and smiled at the old lady, wanting to be praised.
The old lady gave him a smile. “My Chong-er’s ingot is folded better than mine”.
“Here—” Liu Chong gave the ingot to the old lady and gestured to her to put it into the fire.
The old lady shook her hands. “No need to hurry. It will be the same even if you burn these next time. It is best not to burn ingots that don’t have names on them because no one would know whose they are. Your grandfather wouldn’t know these are for him.”
Liu Chong nodded thoughtfully, bowed his head, and went back to concentrate on folding new ones.
The old lady knocked the walking stick against the floor to extinguish the stray embers of the fire and went back to prodding at the ashes so that the ones at the bottom could finish burning. While doing this, she muttered, “Receive ingots, eat well, play well. Mountains of gold and silver abound. All is safe and sound.”
As Liu Chong folded the ingots, he subconsciously murmured along with the old lady, “Receive ingots, eat well, play well. Mountains of gold…and silver abound. All is safe and sound.”
The mountain of paper ingots burned clean quickly. The old lady thumped her walking stick and entered the room with Liu Chong in tow. No one knew what that blockhead had knocked over because right after they entered the room, a crisp sound travelled outwards as if something made of porcelain had shattered.
“Don’t panic. It’s okay, hm? It’s okay.” The old lady’s voice travelled faintly from the room. Maybe Liu Chong was stunned from doing something wrong and that was the reason she calmed him down in a hurry.
Not long after, the old lady came out with Liu Chong again.
The old person held the shattered pieces with the front of the heavy robe while Liu Chong held a…
Xue Xian squinted from behind the door for a long while and finally realised that it seemed to be a small copper mirror.
What was the copper mirror for?
He was honestly a little bewildered.
He saw the old lady instruct Liu Chong to dig up the soil around the old tree beside the wall and to put the shards into the hole before setting the copper mirror in as well. As the copper mirror was being buried, she murmured again, “Place a mirror to turn the bad omen into a good one. May there be pieces of peace.”
Xue Xian, “…”
Only after the two had finished burying the porcelain shards and the copper mirror did they return to the room.
Although Liu Chong was silly, he still understood the concept of being filial and only crossed the threshold after he helped the old lady in.
Xue Xian turned and asked Xuan Min in a quiet voice, “This Gate of Life is so strange. Does it have to replay some touching scenes of the past before letting us go?”
Xuan Min frowned and lifted his finger to his lips, signalling him to be silent.
It was still a step too late. Liu Chong, whose other leg had almost entered the room, stopped as if he heard something. Puzzled, he peered his head out again. Their luck couldn’t be any worse as he looked right where the pillar was and met Xue Xian’s gaze head-on.
Logically, being such a small piece of paper, one might not be able to meet the eyes clearly if it was three inches away, let alone if it was seven to eight steps away.
But Liu Chong saw him.
Xue Xian was not sure if he imagined it but within a split second, he thought that he saw Liu Chong’s slightly idiotic gaze turn serious; his dark eyes stared unblinkingly outside, giving anyone the creeps.
At that moment, the wind in the courtyard died down and picked up again but in the completely wrong direction, foreboding something sinister in the sudden change. Liu Chong suddenly stepped forward and footsteps could also be heard from within the house shuffling stiffly, unlike the footsteps of the old lady.
Xuan Min no longer hid behind the pillar but had already dodged his way along the wall to disappear behind the door at the same time when Liu Chong took a step.
The shuffling footsteps did not cease and approached even closer.
Xuan Min took a glance around and decisively chose the corridor to his right. He passed the small garden and took large strides towards the door at a slanted corner, avoiding the areas that faced the front of the rooms.
“Why the sudden change?” Xue Xian clutched tightly onto Xuan Min’s robes and couldn’t help but look back. He saw that both the old and the young had already emerged from the door. Whether it was the way they walked or their expression, they carried a strange sense of emptiness and the intent to kill.
“For some reason, the Gate of Life has turned into the Gate of Death.” Xuan Min stood beside the narrow door. While he answered Xue Xian, he pushed open the door.
Xue Xian, “…So the Eight Doors are different from what you had first calculated?”
Xuan Min, “Mn.”
“What will happen if we wrongly enter the Gate of Death?” asked Xue Xian.
Xuan Min answered calmly, “All the traps will be triggered and similar scenes will replay at each door. Stay out of sight of these people. Once they see us, they will give chase immediately.”
“…” Xue Xian thought of the old and the young whose expressions had suddenly changed and asked, “For how long?”
Xuan Min, ”Until we are dead.”
Xue Xian, “…”
As he finished speaking, he had already crossed the threshold and entered through the door. It was a hall this time. For some reason, there were three to five maids and servants gathered around a table. One of the maids said, “The Elder Madam doesn’t look like she’s getting any better. Actually, it looks like she’s probably getting worse. Don’t tell me the Jiangs gave the wrong medicine?! A quack doctor can cause death!”
The other maid with a round face replied, “I don’t know. We don’t understand medicine. We just have to take good care of the Elder Madam. I was so frightened last night. She couldn’t even draw a single breath. Luckily, I was brave enough to slap her on the back. You two are on duty tonight, aren’t you? Keep a close watch on her!”
Before she could finish, another maid frantically ran in from the back, panting heavily, “Quick! To the back! I’m afraid the Elder Madam has—”
Hiding in the shadows, Xuan Min spun around without waiting for her to finish, moving out of the door. Xue Xian turned back to look and slapped Xuan Min harshly, “They saw us! They saw us again! Hurry!”
As he spoke, the sound of footsteps from the room changed and could be heard coming towards the door.
Just by opening two doors, they had provoked seven to eight things that were either human or ghosts to chase after them. This prank had gone somewhat out of hand!
The Baldy turned on his heel and stood in front of the third narrow door without wasting another second.
Xue Xian, “…” Hey, Ancient One. Can you think before you push it open?!
Chapter 9: Gold Ingots (5)
Xue Xian glanced at his palm out of the corner of his eye and measured the Baldy’s body. The monk’s robes were wide, which made Xuan Min seem tall and slender. From the outline of his straight back, Xue Xian could tell that his skinniness wasn’t similar to the people who ate nutritionless food while they were growing up but should still possess some strength. In any case, it was still a far cry from “strong”.
And so, Xue Xian lifted his chin in disbelief. “You can catch me with one hand? Who are you fooling?”
Xuan Min’s expression did not shift, his hand still extended.
“Fine, you’ll be responsible for the damage,” said Xue Xian aloofly. Using both his hands, he leaped from the wall.
However, the instant he fell, he transformed from being a skinny human back into a paper man. To match the width of Xuan Min’s palm, he purposely reduced the size of the paper by a few times, making it the size of a palm. Like a leaf falling from a branch, he lay in Xuan Min’s palm…
Spread-eagle style.
Xuan Min, “…”
Accustomed to the lively appearance of this vile spawn, it was a shock to see an image depicting “regret in death” again. Even if it was shrunk down, it still stung the eyes when one saw it.
Xuan Min shifted his gaze away wordlessly. Out of sight, out of mind was his original intention. He placed the vile spawn back into the pocket by his waist as he had done before. But he grew some humanity this time and allowed the vile spawn to poke his head out for an occasional breather instead of letting him sink to the bottom.
Who knew that the vile spawn was dissatisfied.
“Excuse me, change the place.” The tone of the “excuse me” that came out of Xue Xian’s mouth did not sound polite at all.
Xuan Min did not expect that within the time span of a few sentences, the vile spawn had already forgotten that he was the one being caught and vaguely felt as if he was going to overturn the sky.
Was there ever a prisoner who would boldly request for a higher level bunk?
“Where to?” Xuan Min lowered his gaze.
The paper man was naturally boneless anyway so he easily bent over backwards to show his face while rolling his eyes at Xuan Min, demanding, “I want to climb onto the shoulder!”
Xuan Min, “…”
The paper man Xue still complained reasonably, “The view from this pain-in-the-ass spot is too low. I can’t see anything from here. I want to climb onto the shoulder!”
Xuan Min, “…”
Why don’t you climb up to heaven?
“So now you’re not afraid of falling,” said Xuan Min tonelessly.
Xue Xian talked back without a hint of hesitation. “Do you slouch your shoulders? Do you skip when you walk? If you don’t do either of these, how would I fall?”
The vile spawn always talked as if he made perfect sense and Xuan Min could not win a fight against him. He only shook his head and said in defeat, “Climb on.”
After he finished speaking, he ignored Xue Xian and stepped forward.
Xue Xian lay waiting at the mouth of the pocket but noticed that Xuan Min was not going to lend a helping hand. He opened his mouth indignantly. “Where’s your hand?”
Xuan Min replied coldly, “Climb on your own.”
Xue Xian, “…”
For a daye like Xue Xian, it was humiliating to climb all over the place which he would not do even if he was to be beaten to death. But he could reluctantly accept climbing using his arms’ strength, just like a monkey did. And so, he raised his head and took into account the Baldy’s height. He then condescended, stretching two of his dragon claws out to hook onto the Baldy’s monk robes.
Xuan Min’s monk robes had a strange texture. Neither was it like raw hemp, nor cooked hemp. It wasn’t finely made and yet it was slightly soft. It was steeped until it turned white as snow as if no dust or dirt could stain it. In short, it wasn’t something any ordinary monk would wear.
And…it had a smell he couldn’t quite place.
Like a pine forest freshly covered with snow.
The weight of the paperman was truly light. In two to three movements, Xue Xian had climbed directly from Xuan Min’s waist area up to his collar.
Originally, he would have reached the shoulder if he had continued along the collar and flipped up. It could even be counted as a shortcut. But Xue Xian didn’t want to. He lay at Xuan Min’s collar, looked at both shoulders, and raised his head.
He could see Xuan Min’s chin from his strange point of view which would not have been visible if he had continued climbing.
Xue Xian took a short break and then swung up violently, clambering up his chin and slapping his way up from the bridge of his nose. Borrowing strength from Xuan Min’s eyelashes, he dropped down on his shoulder from the side, enacting in earnest what the idiom “onto the nose and then face” meant.
Xuan Min, “…”
To have such a fearless temperament, it most definitely could not have been any small demonic spirit. But the energy on Xue Xian’s original body was still weak and hence Xuan Min had not been able to determine the origin of this vile spawn.
Speaking of original bodies…
Xuan Min threw a glance at the paper man, who was now sitting on his shoulder, and asked in a deep voice, “You said to that wandering ghost scholar that your life wasn’t over.”
Xue Xian adjusted his posture and after choosing a comfortable position, he sat lazily and said, “That’s right. That’s why it isn’t right for you to catch me.”
Xuan Min didn’t reply to his sentence, but instead asked again, “Where is your original body then?”
There were always wooden sticks in the world who were excellent with words, who would purposely pick your sore spots to jab at, mentioning the pot that doesn’t boil.
Jiang Shining was such a wooden stick and so was the Baldy.
Where was his original body?
Even Xue Xian himself didn’t know.
Recalling that day on the beach of Huameng County in Guangdong Province, after he was stripped of his bones, the rain poured heavily and the waves crashed. The surge of waves swept him into the sea and he had lost consciousness from the agony. When he finally regained a sliver of consciousness, he found that his spirit had separated from his body.
Without the support of his spirit, such a huge body would not be able to maintain its original appearance. Hence, as it once was, it had shrunk into a golden orb.
He planned to collect the golden orb first and then return to his original body after his spirit had recovered. Who would have thought that the Heavens would decide to play a trick on him? When his consciousness was still hazy, the golden orb had been swept towards the shore by a huge wave. Through the seawater, he could see that the golden orb was taken away by a man in fisherman clothes.
When he had fully regained consciousness and wanted to give chase, that person had already disappeared without a trace.
Xue Xian could feel anger simmering just by thinking about it. So he said rudely, “Aren’t I looking for it now?!”
Xuan Min glanced at him again. Even though he had lost his original body, this vile spawn seemed quite capable.
It was not that Xue Xian did not take it seriously but compared to taking revenge on the one who had stripped him of his bones, the trouble with his original body was truly much smaller. The reason he could not find it now was because his spirit had been badly damaged, thus severing the connection between him and his original body. After his full recovery, he would be able to sense the location of his original body. By then, it would not take much effort to find it.
However, not looking for it was one thing and it showing up on its own was another.
Xue Xian thought of the ringing he heard previously and couldn’t help but mutter to himself, “The positioning of this mansion is a little stra—”
As he was saying this, Xuan Min had already brought him calmly through the halls and rooms, passing through two narrow doors unscathed. He walked past a corridor and was about to open another narrow door.
At that moment, just before the syllable “-nge” could leave Xue Xian’s lips, he instantly changed the topic. “Wait! Why does this place look familiar?”
More than familiar…
This house with its limestone floor and flowers carved into the wooden board above the door and the old tree that stretched past the wall with vines creeping on it…Wasn’t this the place that Xue Xian found himself in when he opened his eyes?!
Would someone care to explain why the Baldy turned here and there just to lead Xue Xian right back to where he was?!
However, Xuan Min shook his head and said, “That place was an illusion. This place is real.”
Xue Xian glanced at him and thought, Fine, since the Baldy is an expert in the Eight Gates of Defense, there should not be a huge error in his calculation. If he says it’s real, then real it is…
“What’s the point in figuring out the real one?” Xue Xian watched as the Baldy stepped over the threshold and walked into a quiet and empty room.
Xuan Min said, “This is the Gate of Life. Exit from here and the array will be broken.”
Xue Xian was just about to speak when he heard a faint voice coming from the room which should have been empty.
Xuan Min halted in his step midway and spun silently on his toes to hide behind a pillar in the corridor with the paper man still on his shoulder.
Why would someone be here?
Xue Xian climbed to stand on Xuan Min’s shoulder and poke his head out from behind the pillar. The good thing was that the paper was so unnoticeable that it was very difficult to attract attention.
The faint voice in the room gradually became clearer and familiar. When the door to the room finally opened with a squeak, the person from inside the room awkwardly raised a leg to step over the threshold. Only then did Xue Xian realise—it was the blockhead Liu Chong’s voice.
Could it be that even without searching, they had found the rest of the people who were trapped? Who was he talking to? Jiang Shining?
But Xue Xian was no fool and noticed that something was wrong instantly.
The heavy robes that Liu Chong wore were different from the ones before. The one he had on before was a grey-blue robe, but this one was a deep ochre colour with dark red lining on its sleeves, looking like a piece of clothing for festive occasions.
Just as that thought formed, Liu Chong turned back to support the person behind the door.
He was clumsy and so the action of supporting someone was done with twelve parts of strength as well as twelve parts of sincerity.
Hobbling after him with her hand in his was an old lady with her hair pulled back into a bun. The old lady’s hair was thin and white. Her bun was a soft and small ball resting at the back of her head. She looked haggard; her eyes drooped, her face was full of deep wrinkles, and her lips were a little purplish. Clearly, she was sick.
She rested her hand on Liu Chong’s wrist, clinging tightly onto Liu Chong like old roots to soil. In her other hand was an ashy walking stick made of wood. Even so, she crossed the threshold with some difficulty.
The legs of old people were sluggish. The threshold was clearly too high for her.
The old lady finally stood steady outside the door with both her hands on the walking stick. She smiled at Liu Chong and murmured, “Chong-er is capable. Go inside and bring me a wooden stool.”
Liu Chong nodded and was about to enter the room when he heard the old lady add, “Oh, the lanterns and ingots as well.”
Blockheads could only focus on one task at a time. The old lady had given him three instructions so this was too complicated for the blockhead Liu Chong. He stood with one foot in the door and one foot out, gazing dazedly at the old lady. He spoke, struggling with each word, “Wooden stool…ingots?”
The old lady exhaled silently and smiled. “Mn, Chong-er is so smart”.
Liu Chong returned the smile with a silly one and hurried back into the room. After a while, he walked out with a wooden stool in one hand and a large cloth bag in the other. With both of his hands occupied, the blockhead seemed as if he did not know how to take a step. After a moment of hesitation at the threshold, he stepped across with difficulty and staggered a little before finally managing to pass the wooden stool and the cloth bag to the old lady.
He probably wanted to steady the wooden stool and then open the cloth bag, but, because of his clumsy actions, the wooden stool almost toppled and the loose knot on the bag was pulled into a dead knot. Nobody knew if he was here to help or to cause trouble.
However, the old lady didn’t seem to mind and remained smiling at Liu Chong. She said, “And fetch two lanterns from the room.”
Liu Chong probably thought he had been praised and became even more enthusiastic. He turned back and went into the room to search and emerged with two red lanterns a while later.
“It’s a small year. These white lanterns should be taken down.” The old lady told Liu Chong to change the white lanterns beside the door to the festive red ones and sat back down onto the wooden stool, squinting at the dead knot on the cloth bag.
It took a long time to untie it.
As the cloth bag unravelled, the pile of paper ingots were spread out onto the floor.
The old lady carefully took a match from the cloth bag, lit it with the flame borrowed from the white lantern, and threw it into the pile of paper ingots.
Warm yellow flames leaped up instantly, the pile of paper ingots crumpling as if they had been sucked dry. One of the ingots close to the edge was not licked by the flames and was blown towards the pillar instead. Xuan Min silently flicked his hand and the paper ingot landed onto his palm.
Xuan Min flipped the paper ingot over and, as expected, there were a few words written on its bottom. Judging by the disjointed handwriting, it obviously belonged to the blockhead Liu Chong.
Stretching his head out and squinting his eyes to look it over, Xue Xian recognised the words as someone’s name—Liu Xian.
He immediately recalled the ingots with the illegible handwriting in Liu Chong’s room and thought, Could those words be Liu Xian?
It couldn’t be once one thought about it carefully. If Liu Chong could write the two words Liu Xian so clearly on this ingot, then why would it be scrawled so badly at another time? Looking back at that smudge of ink, there were definitely more than two words.
Xuan Min finished looking at the words on the bottom of ingot and let go. The paper ingot was blown back and managed to catch the last lick of fire, burning away completely.
The old lady stoked the fire with the cane and murmured, “My bones aren’t too well this year. I can’t bend my waist anymore. The paper ingots are fewer than last year’s. I hope you don’t mind.”
Liu Chong sat on the threshold, listening quietly. Just after two sentences, he ran back into the room and brought out a small stack of yellow paper. He buried his head between his knees and started folding and said, “I…I know how to. I’ll do it.”
The old lady turned to look at him. Her face was illuminated by the flames, her eyes warm yet pained.
Liu Chong was clumsy at other things but he was very familiar with folding ingots. He had clearly been helping. He held a finished one in his palm and smiled at the old lady, wanting to be praised.
The old lady gave him a smile. “My Chong-er’s ingot is folded better than mine”.
“Here—” Liu Chong gave the ingot to the old lady and gestured to her to put it into the fire.
The old lady shook her hands. “No need to hurry. It will be the same even if you burn these next time. It is best not to burn ingots that don’t have names on them because no one would know whose they are. Your grandfather wouldn’t know these are for him.”
Liu Chong nodded thoughtfully, bowed his head, and went back to concentrate on folding new ones.
The old lady knocked the walking stick against the floor to extinguish the stray embers of the fire and went back to prodding at the ashes so that the ones at the bottom could finish burning. While doing this, she muttered, “Receive ingots, eat well, play well. Mountains of gold and silver abound. All is safe and sound.”
As Liu Chong folded the ingots, he subconsciously murmured along with the old lady, “Receive ingots, eat well, play well. Mountains of gold…and silver abound. All is safe and sound.”
The mountain of paper ingots burned clean quickly. The old lady thumped her walking stick and entered the room with Liu Chong in tow. No one knew what that blockhead had knocked over because right after they entered the room, a crisp sound travelled outwards as if something made of porcelain had shattered.
“Don’t panic. It’s okay, hm? It’s okay.” The old lady’s voice travelled faintly from the room. Maybe Liu Chong was stunned from doing something wrong and that was the reason she calmed him down in a hurry.
Not long after, the old lady came out with Liu Chong again.
The old person held the shattered pieces with the front of the heavy robe while Liu Chong held a…
Xue Xian squinted from behind the door for a long while and finally realised that it seemed to be a small copper mirror.
What was the copper mirror for?
He was honestly a little bewildered.
He saw the old lady instruct Liu Chong to dig up the soil around the old tree beside the wall and to put the shards into the hole before setting the copper mirror in as well. As the copper mirror was being buried, she murmured again, “Place a mirror to turn the bad omen into a good one. May there be pieces of peace.”
Xue Xian, “…”
Only after the two had finished burying the porcelain shards and the copper mirror did they return to the room.
Although Liu Chong was silly, he still understood the concept of being filial and only crossed the threshold after he helped the old lady in.
Xue Xian turned and asked Xuan Min in a quiet voice, “This Gate of Life is so strange. Does it have to replay some touching scenes of the past before letting us go?”
Xuan Min frowned and lifted his finger to his lips, signalling him to be silent.
It was still a step too late. Liu Chong, whose other leg had almost entered the room, stopped as if he heard something. Puzzled, he peered his head out again. Their luck couldn’t be any worse as he looked right where the pillar was and met Xue Xian’s gaze head-on.
Logically, being such a small piece of paper, one might not be able to meet the eyes clearly if it was three inches away, let alone if it was seven to eight steps away.
But Liu Chong saw him.
Xue Xian was not sure if he imagined it but within a split second, he thought that he saw Liu Chong’s slightly idiotic gaze turn serious; his dark eyes stared unblinkingly outside, giving anyone the creeps.
At that moment, the wind in the courtyard died down and picked up again but in the completely wrong direction, foreboding something sinister in the sudden change. Liu Chong suddenly stepped forward and footsteps could also be heard from within the house shuffling stiffly, unlike the footsteps of the old lady.
Xuan Min no longer hid behind the pillar but had already dodged his way along the wall to disappear behind the door at the same time when Liu Chong took a step.
The shuffling footsteps did not cease and approached even closer.
Xuan Min took a glance around and decisively chose the corridor to his right. He passed the small garden and took large strides towards the door at a slanted corner, avoiding the areas that faced the front of the rooms.
“Why the sudden change?” Xue Xian clutched tightly onto Xuan Min’s robes and couldn’t help but look back. He saw that both the old and the young had already emerged from the door. Whether it was the way they walked or their expression, they carried a strange sense of emptiness and the intent to kill.
“For some reason, the Gate of Life has turned into the Gate of Death.” Xuan Min stood beside the narrow door. While he answered Xue Xian, he pushed open the door.
Xue Xian, “…So the Eight Doors are different from what you had first calculated?”
Xuan Min, “Mn.”
“What will happen if we wrongly enter the Gate of Death?” asked Xue Xian.
Xuan Min answered calmly, “All the traps will be triggered and similar scenes will replay at each door. Stay out of sight of these people. Once they see us, they will give chase immediately.”
“…” Xue Xian thought of the old and the young whose expressions had suddenly changed and asked, “For how long?”
Xuan Min, ”Until we are dead.”
Xue Xian, “…”
As he finished speaking, he had already crossed the threshold and entered through the door. It was a hall this time. For some reason, there were three to five maids and servants gathered around a table. One of the maids said, “The Elder Madam doesn’t look like she’s getting any better. Actually, it looks like she’s probably getting worse. Don’t tell me the Jiangs gave the wrong medicine?! A quack doctor can cause death!”
The other maid with a round face replied, “I don’t know. We don’t understand medicine. We just have to take good care of the Elder Madam. I was so frightened last night. She couldn’t even draw a single breath. Luckily, I was brave enough to slap her on the back. You two are on duty tonight, aren’t you? Keep a close watch on her!”
Before she could finish, another maid frantically ran in from the back, panting heavily, “Quick! To the back! I’m afraid the Elder Madam has—”
Hiding in the shadows, Xuan Min spun around without waiting for her to finish, moving out of the door. Xue Xian turned back to look and slapped Xuan Min harshly, “They saw us! They saw us again! Hurry!”
As he spoke, the sound of footsteps from the room changed and could be heard coming towards the door.
Just by opening two doors, they had provoked seven to eight things that were either human or ghosts to chase after them. This prank had gone somewhat out of hand!
The Baldy turned on his heel and stood in front of the third narrow door without wasting another second.
Xue Xian, “…” Hey, Ancient One. Can you think before you push it open?!
